Little Red Wagon #218 - New Beginnings!

Hi there and a Happy New Year to you!

I think last night was the quietest, most uneventful New Years Eve I've ever had.......and to be honest that suits me just fine!

I sat in my jammies, watched a little TV, did a little crafting, worked on the PC - yep that was about the extent of it.

Just as well I managed a little crafting though, as there's no denying the dedication of  the Little Red Wagon Girlfriends in bringing you this weeks challenge on January 1st no less!

It's my turn to host, so it's quite fitting that the theme I chose for this weeks challenge is 'New Beginnings'.

You might decide on a 'New Year' type of card, or 'New Home', 'New Job'.........I'm even allowing liberties in letting you create with that brand 'new' Scrappy item you acquired at Christmas!

The choice is yours as long as your creation has a connection to something 'New'.

I have a scrappy girlfriend in need of a 'New Baby' card so that's the route I chose.

Colouring is with Copic's and the digi is an oldie but goodie from Lori Boyd (I'm still convinced she has some of the cutest baby/kiddo digi's around!).

Hopefully you'll get a chance to join in with our 'New' challenge over at Little Red Wagon this week, just remember to link up your creation over on the blog and we'll be stopping by to say 'Hi'.

The Girlfriends have a generous dose of inspiration for you of course, but unfortunately we are waving goodbye to two of our team........Regan and Tammy.......their creativity will be sadly missed around here!

Have a great week,
Jayne.x.

Springtime........I hope!

Nope, this is no April Fool........I am really here, on my blog! Has it really been a week since my last post? Yet again I'm wondering where the days went. Anyhow, I am really seriously willing Spring to arrive, as I'm really tired of the persistent dregs of snow still loitering. To help things along I have a yummy card for you, using as always, a superbly cute image by Lori Boyd, which you can find over at the Lollipop Shop. Full of the joys of Spring, here's Puddle Jumper Tabitha.......... Suhweet! I've coloured again with Copic's, and papers are from a 6"x6" My Minds Eye (Stella and Rose) pad. A touch of ribbon, a button and some baker's twine, and we're done! I'll be back later with some challenge hopefuls, but for now, have a very 'Springlike' day! Jayne.x.

Somebunny loves you!

Hi there, just dropping in with another Easter card. This is using one of my favourite stamps, as it was one of the very first Lori Boyd creations I coloured. In fact it was one of the first ever stamps I coloured. Yep....this is one that got me started on this crazy card making train!

Anyhow, I'll cut to the chase and show the card shall I?



So this is sweet 'Presley' Lollipop, and you can find her in digi form over at the Lollipop Shop of course. Or if you're feeling the need for that smell of red rubber, you can pick her up from Stamping Bella. I have actually used her on this layout before, but this time I thought I'd turn it into the Easter/Spring variety............the numerous 'bunny' references and all!

Presley is coloured with Copic's and has plenty of sparkle added to her dress. Papers are from the We R Memory Keepers 'Peep' line, with a little enhancement from a Martha Stewart punch, a button and baker's twine.

That's it from me for today.........guess I'll go and enjoy the (hopefully) last dump of snow!

Have a good one

Jayne.x.

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Challenges entered:

Cooking It Up With Katie - #54 Animals with colourful button

The Pixie Cottage - #62 Sketch and/or Sparkle

Simon Says Stamp - Mothers Day or Girlie

The Creative Cottage - #35 Spring has Sprung

Do It With Digi's - #6 Boys and Girls come out to play

DYSU Challenge Blog - #11 Add a Bow

Card Makin' Mamas - #17 Animals

Totally Gorjuss - #72 Button It

Gingerloft Challenge - #14 Use die cuts or punches

Digital Tuesday Challenge - #103 Button Up

You're A Star!

Well that was a fun week..........March break at home with the kiddies and an unwelcome stomach bug! Think I must have upset someone in a previous life. Anyhow, things picked up toward the end of the week, so we got out to burn off a little of that energy.

I'm finally here to post my Lori Boyd creation that's been sitting on my desk for a while. Do you remember the card I made for eldest DD in honour of the dance recital? (You can check it out here if you feel inclined) Well today I have the younger version, for my youngest DD.........here's Ballet Mouse.........

You can find 'Ballet Mouse' over at the Lollipop Shop of course.

I've coloured today with Prisma pencils and papers are a mixture of October Afternoon (Campfire) and Martha Stewart, both embossed. So, you may guess that DD's favourite colour is 'red', hence the overdose of said colour. Also, you can't really tell from the photo, but this little mouse is covered in plenty of sparkle. Thought I'd also use some Tulle for a change to liven things up.

Well, that's about it for today......short and sweet!

Enjoy the weekend and I'll see you tomorrow.

Jayne.x.

Another 'sweetie'.........

Hi there, are you enjoying 'Family Day here in Canada? With the snow we had overnight, this roughly translates to a day stuck inside with 'the family' driving you crazy! LOL

Anyhow, thought I'd hop into blogland with a cute card. I've coloured up a super sweet Lori Boyd image, I've been meaning to get my hands on for quite some time. Her name is Nellie and she's one of the 'Spoonfuls' which you can find at by LORI Designs..............

So, I had a couple of pointers for inspiration on this card...........apart from the fact that the image is ridiculously cute, so how could you not want to colour her up!

Firstly, my local scrapbook store, Two Scrapbook Friends, are running a current card challenge on their forum, to use buttons on you creation. Say no more, although I did dig into a new variety of felt ones, which I picked up at the store last week. They're great to work with and a really great price!

Secondly, I found a sketch online at Karen Giron's Blog, The Sweetest Thing, which I thought would work beautifully
I did 'flip' it, just in case you're confused!

Lastly, and believe me, this was a complete coincidence..........there is another colour challenge currently running over at the Lollipop Shop (home to By LORI Designs), the colour contenders being..................

I had no intention of entering this card, and had already chosen my patterned paper and coloured my image, before I checked out the challenge. Must have received some subliminal messages, cause I seem to have got the colours pretty close. The only thing I had to add was the espresso coloured card stock for matting.

So, the deets very quickly........I coloured with Copic markers, papers are Pixie Liscious from Cosmo Cricket, buttons as previously mentioned, and the 'Sweet' rub-on has been sitting in my stash forevah.......no idea which make!

That's about it for today, but I think I'll be back fairly soon this week, as I have a few things prepped and ready to go.....most unusual for me! I'm also really wanting to get another scrapbook LO done this week, but I guess we'll see.....better not be too optimistic!

Have a great day.

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Challenges entered:

The Shabby Tea Room - #50 Buttons and Bows

Stamps R Us - For the Girls

Stampin' Royalty - #59 Mark It Up (use markers)

Creative Belli Blog - #111 Felt or Fabric

DYSU Challenge Blog - #7 Dots

Totally Papercrafts Challenge - #54 Do It With Digi's

Sugar Creek Hollow - Buttons and Bows

Simply Create - #37 Bold and Bright

CES Challenges - #24 Spots and Stripes

By LORI Designs - Colour Challenge 5

Boy oh boy..........

Hi, just popping in, a little late in the day today, but I wanted to post a card that's been sitting on my desk for a fair few days. Another boy card......we don't see many of those around here, but this one is oozing with sweetness.

I've used another cute Puddle Jumper image from Lori Boyd, called 'Kyle', and you can find him of course at By LORI Designs......................

It also ties in very nicely with the current challenge running over there, the colour scheme required being.................
If you want to join in the fun, and give yourself the chance of winning a sweet image, you still have a little time, as the challenge closes tomorrow at midnight.

Kyle was coloured again with Copic's, and papers are a combination of Martha Stewart and October Afternoon.

I'm sure I'll find some challenges for Kyle to head into, so I'm off to do that right now.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

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Challenges entered:

CES Challenge Blog - #23 Cute and Cuddly

Lollipop Crafts - #26 Use you favourite colouring medium

Whoopsi Daisy - Anything Goes

Claudia & Company - #75 About A Boy

Cards For Men - #4 Recipe....1 image/2 DP's/3 embellishments (I used ribbon, star button and bakers twine)

A Blog Hop!

Hello again. There's some fun stuff going on today, and I bet you can't guess what it is?...........A Blog Hop no less! Maybe the title gave it away. Yep, ByLoriDesigns, home of the sugary sweet Lollipop's and Sugar Sticks etc. are celebrating ........well....... anything you feel like celebrating, but the important thing is...........there are prizes involved! WoooooHooooo!!!

Here's the brief - you need to start over at the Lollipop Shop , where you will find the running order for the lovely ladies of the Design Team. Leave a comment there, and on each DT members blog to be in with a chance of winning one of these...........



..........a $10 gift certificate to spend at the Lollipop Shop, and there are 2 up for grabs! Not bad eh?

Now, if you have arrived here from the lovely Andrea's blog, then you are on the right track, so leave a comment (preferably a nice one!) and head on over to the lovely Hannah's blog. If you've happened here by chance, thanks for stopping by.....visitor's are always welcome, but if you'd like to join in the blog hop, skip over to the Lollipop Shop and start 'hopping'.

Before you leave though, maybe I should show you a card huh? I'm guessing that's what you're here for (unless the $10 is more appealing!). Today, I got to play with a new digi created by the talented Hannah Boyd (who you will be visiting next I hope!), from her new line of digi stamps........Bug and Roo, which you can also find at the Lollipop Shop. Here's 'Sunny'...............

Yes, there is obviously a whole bunch of talent in the 'Boyd' family!

So, I'll quickly run through the deets and you can be on your way. Sunny has been coloured with a combination of Copic markers and Prisma pencils. Papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Earth Love series and everything has been inked with 2 shades of Tim Holtz distressing ink. I used an EK Success border punch and threaded ribbon through, and used a fine line marker to create faux stitching and doodling in various places on the card. The sentiment is actually a digi created by Lori Boyd, which I printed on to Kraft cardstock, and raised in places with foam dots to create the dimension.

One last thing, I had no intention of using a sketch for this card as I pretty much knew I wanted a large, 'sunlike' circle behind the image. However, whilst I was cruising blogland for challenges the other day, I happened across a perfect sketch on Karen Giron's blog, for her Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, so of course, it was meant to be!

Well, that's it from me for now. I'll leave you with the complete running order for the blog hop, just in case you get a little disorientated (or should I say distracted!) out there in blogland.

By LORi Designs Blog
Sherryann
Sheri
Linda
Arielle
Jacquie
Angela
Jennifer
Silvia
Jane
Andrea
Jayne - you're here
Hannah
Kadie
Krista
Lori

Have a great day.

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Challenges entered:

The Sweetest Thing Sweet Sunday Sketch - Sketch

Fab n 'Funky Challenges - #55 Let's get Warm and Toasty

Paper Crafting Journey - #1 Let's Get Digital

If The Shoe Fits - #61 Ribbon and Bows

One Stop Craft Challenge - # 113 Card for a Child

Pile It On - #2 It's all about the Cute Children

Digi's by Phooka - #1 Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion Challenges - #40 Let's Tie One On (use ribbon or lace etc.)

Baby No.3 !!!!

Good morning all. Hope you're having a good week. Only 1 more day until the mini adults start their Christmas vacation, so if you're anything like me, I'm frantically running around trying to tie up loose ends ie. scouring the stores to find those last few stubborn gifts that do not want to be found!

Thought I'd visit again today with the last of my triplet of baby cards. This one, again for another pink bundle, but......it's not pink, and I'm not awarding prizes for anyone who can guess which colour it is! Here's Baby Olivia...............



Another sweetie designed by Lori Boyd, which as usual you can find over at the Lollipop Shop.

So, of course I went with lilac..........apart from it being the other obvious colour for babies of the girlie variety, I'm informed by the expectant Mom that the nursery is being painted in 'said' colour.

DP's are again from Martha Stewart, and I cut and embossed the 'stroller stamp' from white cardstock using the folder included with my Cuttlebug. Couldn't resist adding those button wheels - cute! The scalloped circle is cut using a Nestie and I obviously threaded white ribbon through and added a charm. The white rick rack is from my stash and lastly, I stamped 'New Baby' directly on there. Sweet!

I was originally going to give these cards upon the babies arrivals, but since seeing the beautiful new baby girl drawings created by Mo Manning recently, I'm thinking these will be given at the baby showers, and 2 new cards will be made!

I'm off to hunt down some challenges for this sweetie.........pickings are a little slim right now as everything is geared toward Christmas, but.......... I shall persevere!

Remember, don't get swamped by the gift shopping. I'll leave you with the words of 'the Grinch' which I used on a card recently (and which I am trying to abide by......really!)...........

"Maybe Christmas", he thought "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps means a little bit more".

Have a great day.

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Challenges entered:

Other Lovelies - Thoughtful Thursday #37 The letter 'N' (New Baby)

Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog - Recipe, 3 papers, 2 embellishments, 1 image.

CES Challenges - #16 Anything but a Christmas card

The Crafty Pad Challenge Blog - #101 Embossing

The Crazy Challenge - #45 Use at least 3 DP

Karber Weekly Challenge - #18 Anything Goes using a Digi

Congrats for Grandma!

Good Monday morning......at least it would be if we hadn't had a huge dump of snow throughout last night, and still persisting this morning! I certainly have no intention of heading out today, so I thought I'd make the effort and visit 'blogland'.......2 days in a row! I will try to be a more frequent visitor this week, especially as my scrapping friend Dee is probably getting tired of sitting with coffee in hand every morning, waiting for little old Miss No Show here!

On to business......a card no doubt. Remember a while back, I mentioned I had to make 3 baby cards - 2 for colleagues expecting pink bundles early next year, and the other for a first time Grandma, who's bundle of 'boy' arrived last month? Anyhow, so far I've only ever posted one card, which you can check out here if you really feel the urge to. Today, I'm here with the second......Grandma's 'Congratulations' card...........


This is another sweet image designed by Lori Boyd called Sugar Stick Girl with Stroller, and you can find her of course over at the Lollipop Shop. I thought I'd do some paper piecing on here and I really love this digi paper, which I picked up as a freebie from Pop"N"Stick a while back. I thought it would work perfectly for a Grandma type of card.....not too 'babyish'.

I coloured what was left of the image using mainly Copic's and a touch of Prisma's. Now don't examine her face too closely (I know that's exactly what you will now do!) but this is what happens when your E000 marker is practically dried out, and you are desperately trying to coax the last dying dregs from it..............a girl with a far from satisfactory spray tan session! Never fear, I've recently purchased a new marker.

I added a couple of brads to serve as wheels, a ticket with a rub-on, doodled around the edge of the DP, added ribbon and a safety pin........done. I like this card, but then again, I do have a 'thing' for plaid!

This little lady will be wheeling her way into the following challenges:

Karber Weekly Challenge - #18 Anything Goes

Creative Card Crew Challenge - Anything Goes

Delicious Doodles - #4 Recipe.....use 1 image, 2 DP's, 3 embellishments

Totally Papercrafts Challenge - #46 Paper piecing

Marks Finest Papers - #33 Paper piecing

CES Challenges - #16 Anything but a Christmas Card

Bye for now.

Baby it's cold outside.........

Hi, it's me dropping in to say a quick hello with a card that has been sitting waiting to be 'blogged' so to speak, for over a week. I don't have much time, so let's get to it.
Here's another Lori Boyd creation.......I will be back with a different variety of digi soon (I promise!), it's just that I had a little colouring frenzy recently will all the new releases from byLoriDesigns - they're addictive! So, as I was saying .......here's Winter Dana and Penny...........

You can obviously find these sweet Puddle Jumpers over at the Lollipop Shop. I decided to go with a non-traditional colour scheme, mainly because I couldn't wait any longer to cut into this beautiful line of Christmas papers from Bo Bunny...........they've been burning a hole in my stash for a few weeks now and the colours are so pretty.

Dana and Penny were coloured this time around with..........Copic's, yep the Copic markers made an appearance once again. I'm getting quite attached to them.....it's like revisiting an old friendship! lol Ribbon and embroidery floss is from my stash, and the cute snowflake button is one of a bunch I picked up from my favourite local scrapbook store TSF, not sure of the make. I used a Fiskars punch to create the border and the extra snowflakes have been punched from the paper, layered and glittered. Oh, almost forgot, the Christmas tree is cut from another sheet of paper and 'popped' and the sentiment is printed directly onto this using my PC.

That's about all for now, except of course the challenges this will entered into. I'll be back later after hunting some down.

Have a great day......keep warm!

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Challenges being entered are as follows:

The Creative Cottage Challenge Blog - #28 Untraditional Christmas

Crafts and Me Challenges - White Christmas (snowflakes)

Totally Papercrafts Challenge - Untraditional Christmas

Fairy Fun Fridays - #40 Buttons and Bows

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - #60 Christmas

Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge - Christmas with No Red and Green

Stampin' for the Weekend - #51 Winter

Stamp It Crazy - #15 Christmas

Stamps R Us - #10 Holiday Cards

The One Stop Craft Challenge Blog - #108 Christmas Cuties

You've gotta pick a pumpkin or two!

Well, I finally managed to finish colouring some of the new 'PJ's' that were released recently from byLoriDesigns and.........oh they are cute! Introducing Katie and Grace............

So these images are from a new line of digi's called the 'Wagon Trails' which you can find over at the Lollipop Shop , and who knows what may appear in those wagons in the future..........the possibilities are endless!

Now, when I'm deciding on sentiments for cards, I often wonder if anyone is on the same page as me. Take this card for example. Whilst I was colouring this image, a particular song was running through my head, with the word 'pumpkin' replacing one of the lyrics, and that's why it's ended up on today's creation. I thought it was quite witty (in my own sad little way!) and fit perfectly, but my question to you is...............does anyone have a clue which song I'm talking about? I'm guessing not, but I thought I'd throw it out there, so leave a comment if you think you know (and that includes you Mom if you're reading this!). I would say the Brit's amongst us would probably have a better chance at guessing correctly, and you'd definitely have to be no younger than 35...........although the movie this song came from, was a favourite of my 7yr old niece at one time, if I remember correctly. OK, no more clues, just take a guess and I'll call it market research! (lol)

Back to the relevant stuff! I coloured of course with my Prisma's and you know, Copic's for skin areas. DP's are from Queen Martha as I affectionately call her, as is the punched border. I covered a chipboard leaf with a scrap of DP from my stash, and added the button on there, along with a little twine from Jillibean Soup. The ribbon is again from a $$ store.......I'm lovin' the bargain ribbons I'm picking up from there recently! I embossed the brown cardstock using a Cuttlebug folder, and the sentiment is printed from my PC, then cut freehand and doodled.

Done. Cute I'd say, and perfect for Fall.
There are more new digi's over at the Lollipop Shop just bursting with 'cuteness'. Here's a little preview for you..............

They are $3 each and you can find them here.

So there you go, hop on over and take a look.........I'm just a touch excited trying to decide which image to colour up next!

'Katie and Grace' will be heading into the following challenges:

Stampavie and more - Orange

Stamps R Us - Buttons and Bows

Creative Card Crew Challenge - Let's Punch It

City Crafter Challenge Blog - Wk29 Get your Digi on

The Creative Cottage -#26 Embossing

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Leaves

CRAFT Challenge - #75 Dry Embossing

Stamp Insanity - #34 Punch-Drunk Love

Have a great weekend and I'll be back on Sunday with a creation for the new challenge over at OSAAT.

Someday my Prince will come..........

Just thought I'd drop in with a quick post today, and show you a quirky little card I made last week. I used a very sweet image from byLoriDesigns.......the Lollipop Princess which you can find at the Lollipop Shop right here. Here she is..........Lollipop Princess, having a little trouble with.......shall we say...........an uncooperative frog!


I can tell this was made when I wasn't feeling 100% as there are very little (if any!) embellies on there. However I liked the idea of using a new fold (again from my 'Fast and Fun Folded Cards' book by Annies Attic)and that together with the frog leaping from the card , didn't allow much room for anything else. Here's the inside view............

Well, it makes me chuckle if no-one else! I guess the sentiment could apply to Princess or the frog. Hey, whichever side you take.....I'm not judging! Either way, I thought it would work as a good 'Pick Me Up' type of card.

The DP's are from the Pixie Licious line by Cosmo Cricket, and what little colouring there is, was done solely using Copic's, as I paper pieced the dress and frog. I inked around the paper edges using Tim Holtz Distress Ink and used a Fiskars punch to create the trim. I also doodled the froggy leaps, and around the DP, and printed a duplicate image of the Princess, to create the abandoned crown. There is a little glitter used on the crowns and wand, and also Glossy Accents on the frogs spots.

There you have it............never trust a crown wearing frog!

One other thing............there are some exciting new arrivals over at The Lollipop Shop............brand new Puddle Jumpers, or I should say PJ's have arrived in digi form. Yes, a whole new line of digi's, starting with the Wagon Trails series, created by the awesomely talented Lori Boyd, are now available to purchase right here. Far too cute to go into any detail, so get yourself over to the shop and take a look. I'm super excited to be colouring 'Katie and Grace' right now, so hopefully I'll be back soon with something to show you.

OK, I'm now going to hunt down some challenges for this little Princess, so I'll be back a little later with some hopefuls.

Have a great day.........hope the post Halloween sugar rush is easing a little. Oh well, probably only another 2 months till we reach the bottom of the stash!

Enjoy!

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OK, the challenges being entered are as follows:

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - #83 Hide and Seek

Crafty Cardmakers - Digital Plus

Lexi's Creations - #26 Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion Challenges - #30 Anything Goes

Fab'n'Funky Challenges - #46 Keeping It Simple

Simon Says Stamp - Punch Em'

Meljens Designs -#31 It's a 2-fer

A 'Sweet' New Release and Blog Hop.

This is my second post of the day, so if you're looking for my OSAAT DT creation please scroll down.

Now, today is pretty exciting as we are graced with another deliciously sweet release of new digi's from By Lori Designs. They are awesome as always, so to celebrate, we are having a little blog hop with the chance of winning the whole new release.........that's George and Tammy, Sugarstick Cat and Dog and Lollipop Princess! Wow!

My offering today, isn't actually using one of the new releases, as I have been playing catch up, trying to create 2 New Baby cards for 2 ladies within my scrapping circle (who's babies are now 3 & 6 weeks old!). Now, you can't make baby cards without a Lollipop immediately springing to mind, so here are my bundle(s) of joy, using Baby McCoy..............

............in green..........

...........and in blue...........

Too cute, and I'm quite proud of the fact that I only used Copics...........what, no Prisma's! Maybe it's the fact that I only had to colour faces, tummies and a fraction of a diaper! I paper pieced various parts of the babies, and DP's are from Martha Stewart. The cards are also based on a sketch over at Inspired Crafters.

So, if you would like to be in with a chance of winning some goodies, hop on over to The Lollipop Shop, then visit each of the other DT girls. Don't forget to leave a comment on each blog ( you have until midnight Tuesday) then one lucky winner will be drawn randomly and announced at the Lollipop Shop on Wednesday. Here's a link for the rest of the girls, together with our guest designer for this month, Cara:

Lori B. Andrea G. Arielle G. Hannah B. Jane B. Jayne M. Linda L. Sheri G. sherryann Vera R. Cara E.

Happy Hopping!

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These little cuties will be crawling into the following challenges:

Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog - #39 A Change of Season

Pixie Dust Studio Challenge - #43 Sweet Baby

Tellen's Place - Use 2 patterned papers

Craft Your Days Away - #5 Babies

The Pixie Cottage - #39 Sketch and/or embossing

"*@!*"............

Yep, we all have days when this......."*@!*"...... runs through our mind, maybe more than once, and sometimes I even vocalize it! You know the times when you're chasing your tail, so to speak, or feel as though you're fighting a losing battle. Well, I must have been having one of those days when I came up with this card, cause some days, I can whole heartedly relate to this little kitty.............

I think I'll use this as a 'Cheer Up' type of card for one of my fellow 'exasp'ees (think I created another new word!).

The image is the 'Lollipop cat' from the latest release of digis from 'By Lori Designs'. That would officially make this card one of my DT creations (lol- still not quite used to saying that!). All of the puddy cats are coloured with my Prisma pencils, then trimmed and popped from the card. The lovely Halloween papers are from My Minds Eye, and I printed the sentiments from Word. Almost forgot to mention that the layout is based upon a sketch by Jo over at the Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog, so of course this will be joining their little soiree, as well as these other challenges:

The Ribbon Girl - Use the colours Black, Orange and White
Incy Wincy Designs - #61 Anything Goes
Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges - #18 Critter Mad
A Spoonful Of Sugar - Challenge 123 Spots and Stripes
Fab n Funky Challenges - #42 Use Black and White plus one other colour

So that's it for now..........hope you have a "*@!*" free week!

Are you smarter than a 2nd Grader?...........

............hmmmmm..............good question, well if we're talking about my dd, and I'm having a bad day..........possibly 'No'! (heehee) But I can make cards better than a......a.......oh I don't know, but I can make cards OK! So here's today's offering............



Isn't she a sweetie? There are at least two reasons for making this card, maybe more if I can get my act together and hunt down some challenges to enter this into. The first goes like this.........remember the Good Luck card I made the other day to mark the occasion of my youngest starting Kindergarten? Well, I showed it to my eldest and was rewarded with the phrase we all love to hear......."Where's my card.....I want one!" So the (one sided)(on my part) conversation went something like this.........

"But you don't need a card, you're a big girl"......."It's not your very first day of school"........"You don't need any Good Luck to find your way around"........"You're in 2nd Grade"..........................."OK, I'll make you a card!"..........Get the picture?


So here's the deets. I used the 'schoolgirl' digi image from The Lollipop Shop, created by of course, Ms Lori Boyd, and I'll be getting into that more in a moment. I paper pieced her dress, sweater and hair bow, and I coloured with the usual, Prisma's and a touch of Copics. I finally used the 'numeric' tape I've been holding onto for so long I can't remember who makes it (Making Memories I think) and my new Fiskars punch.......now I know it's not quite straight......don't be 'hatin'.....it was after midnight when I created this! DP's are from Queen Martha and I do like the DIY chalkboard I threw together, after I decided I really needed one on there. Did I mention it was after midnight when this decision was made! Not a good idea, but after hunting down a chipboard frame, a scrap of black cardstock, a white pen and another scrap of woodgrain effect DP.......hey presto.......a chalkboard!


So, onto my second reason for making this card. Today marks the official launch of the brand new By Lori Designs 'Lollipop Shop', where you can now get a hold of all your super sweet digi images, created by Lori Boyd. "Oh Happy Day!" As I have been fortunate enough recently, to be included in the company of her sparkling, new, talented Design Team, we're all going to celebrate the occasion by having a little fun. It's time to get hopping for your chance to win a nice little fix of sweet treats! If you hop on over to The Lollipop Shop you'll find the full instructions, but basically, you need to start at the store, then visit each of the DT's blogs (in no particular order) and leave a comment in order to qualify. You have until midnight on Saturday and the winner of the sweet stash of digi's will be announced around 10am on Sunday.


Just in case you've arrived here....... mid hop.......so to speak, thanks for visiting and don't forget to leave a comment. Here's a list of the other gals you need to visit:


Lori B
Andrea G
Arielle G
Hannah B
Jane B
Linda L
Sheri G
Sherryann
Tanja H
Vera R

So........what ya waitin for?

Enjoy!


PS. I may be back later after I've scouted for challenges.

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OK, time has passed, I've scoured 'blogland' and this little baby will be entered into the following challenges:
Die Cut Dreams Challenge Blog - #65 Digital - Sweet Little Girl

Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges - #17 Keep It Simple - 1 digi image plus 1 embellishment

Critter Sketch Challenge Blog - #31 School

Karber Weekly Challenge - Challenge 5 - Card for a Girl


Fingers crossed!

My 'girl' lollipop........

........'you make my heart go giddy up'..........anyone singing along yet?

Well, my DD, my youngest, my 'baby' is starting Kindergarten (sniff!), so things are going to be a little different in our house. Oh, what shall I do with this extra time? My hubby is probably hoping I will clean (LOL), but let's not be too drastic here! I read a quote once, which I have kind of adopted as my own, "Housework is not harmful to your health...........but why take the risk?" Personally, aside from the emotional tug of missing my little shadow, I am secretly looking forward to.........oh, I don't know...........using the bathroom without an audience whilst having to uphold my end of the conversation!

Anyhow, shall I get to the point here......please do! I made a card, of course, to wish her a very happy, mega exciting first day. Here she is..........Ella Lollipop...........

Gotta love da Lollipop's, created of course by the talented Lori Boyd (I may have mentioned that before!). You can find a fair few of the Lollipop's in rubbah over at Stamping Bella, which leads me nicely into my next topic...........challenges.

For Bellarific Friday this week over at Bloggabella, the theme is 'back to school'..........worked out nicely! I'll also be entering this into the following:

Creative Card Crew - Back to school

The Pink Elephant - #83 Back to school

Meljens Designs - #24 Back 2 school

Do ya see a trend here?

Now for the 'deets'. I coloured with my Prisma's and Gamsol, DP's are from Martha Stewart, the notepaper, which I attacked with an EK Success punch, is from Jenni Bowlin and the school bus is a We R Memory Keepers stamp (from their awesome 'Show and Tell' line). The chipboard letters, which I covered with DP, are from my stash and I hand drew the smoke shaped sentiment.

I think we've covered everything..........except, I forgot to mention the other day, the blog candy that is up for grabs until 4th October, over on the OSAAT challenge blog. If you click on the sweet, chocolaty link in my sidebar at the right, you'll find all the details.

Big hugs, and plenty of Kleenex go out to all the Mommies (and Daddies), waving off their kidlets this week.!

'Bee' Happy........

..........well, I did 'chill' for a day.....til I remembered it was Bellarific Friday over at the Stamping Bella blog, and I hadn't 'created' anything. So, after a few rants yesterday to try and get the kiddie winks to clear away the endless supply of clutter, and give me 5 minutes peace (never gonna happen!), I finally came up with something............

This is Lizzie, another of Lori Boyd's cute little 'Lollipop's' which you can find over at Stamping Bella. The challenge this week was a sketch...... gotta love em! Takes the guess work out of layouts which means I get more time to play. I've also decided I do love black matting....black and red, black and yellow......who cares, it just looks so sharp.

I coloured with Prisma's/Gamsol with a touch of Copic's for skin, and used some great DP's from October Afternoon. This was the first time I tried to cut with a 'Nestie' and have part of the image protruding from the edge. I just about succeeded, but maybe next time I'll try with something a little more substantial, instead of two antennae!

Anyhow, that's it for now. I'll leave you with the words from the song that has been running through my head since I started colouring this card......

'Don't worry.......Be Happy'

...........I promise you'll be humming it for the rest of the day!

Somebunny loves you........

I tried my hand at something new this week.....paper piecing......ever tried it? I have done various things on cards which I guess would qualify, but I've never actually stamped an image and paper pieced together. Not anymore! The challenge at Stamping Bella's Bloggabella this week was paper piecing (I wonder how many times I can say that phrase within a post before it gets annoying!). So, I set to work with scissors and craft knife in hand and came up with this.....


This is Presley, one of Lori Boyd's Lollipop images and she really is a sweetie. I used two DP's for the bodice and skirt of the dress and I have to say, I'm lovin' the look it creates. The technique is definitely a little "fiddly" on something this tiny, but once I'd ditched my craft knife for a pair of teeny tiny decoupage scissors (I've had stashed away for the past fifteen years) things got easier. I love how she turned out, so me thinks I will be trying this again sometime soon.

I coloured mainly with Copic markers and just a tiny bit of Prisma pencils. I also added a touch of glitter to her dress, and two spots of Liquid Pearls for the buttons. The DP's are Kioshi from Basic Grey together with BoBunny's Double Dot cardstock.

I think this is my latest favourite card........for now!